10 Commandments to succeed

In life everyone needs goals. We all have them. But success in our endeavours can come with a reflecting change in the way we live – how seriously we take ourselves and others around us.  When you start small like this, you won’t need a lot of motivation either. 

The simple act of getting started and doing something will give you the momentum you need, and soon you’ll find yourself in a positive spiral of changes – one building on the other. 

Try one new thing every day. Variety truly is the spice of life.  You can see or do something a million times, but you can only see or do it for the first time once.  As a result, first time experiences often leave reflective marks in our minds for the rest of our lives.  Make an effort to try something new every day for the next 30 days.  It can be a whole new activity or just a small experience, such as talking to a stranger. 

Perform one selfless act every day. In life, you get what you put in.  When you make a positive impact in someone else’s life, you also make a positive impact in your own life.  Do something that’s greater than you, something that helps someone else be happy or suffer less. It will be an extremely rewarding experience.  One you’ll likely remember forever.

Learn and practice one new skill every day.  Self-reliance is a vital key to living a healthy, productive life.  To be self-reliant one must master a basic set of skills, more or less making them a jack of all trades.  Contrary to what you may have learned in school, a jack of all trades is far more equipped to deal with life than a specialised master of only one.  And besides, learning new skills is fun.

Treat everyone nicely, even those who are rude to you. Being nice to someone you dislike doesn’t mean you’re fake.  It means you’re mature enough to control your emotions.  Treat everyone with kindness and respect, even those who are rude to you – not because they’re nice, but because you are. 

 

Concentrate on being positive at all times. The real winners in life cultivate optimism.  They have the ability to manufacture their own happiness and drive. No matter what the situation, the successful diva is the chick who will always find a way to put an optimistic spin on it.  She knows failure only as an opportunity to grow and learn a new lesson from life.  People who think optimistically see the world as a place packed with endless opportunities, especially in trying times.

Don’t tell a single lie for 30 days. With all the seemingly innocent, white lies that trickle out of us, this is way harder than it sounds.  But you can do it.  Stop deceiving yourself and others, speak from the heart, speak the whole truth.

 

Wake up 30 minutes early every morning. Get up 30 minutes earlier than usual so you don’t have to rush around like a mad man.  That 30 minutes will help you avoid speeding tickets, tardiness and other unnecessary headaches.  Give it a legitimate try for 30 days straight and see how it impacts your life.

Define one long-term goal and work on it for an hour every day. Break your goal down into bite-sized pieces and focus on achieving each one piece at a time.  It really is all about taking baby steps, and taking the first step is often the hardest.  Spend an hour every day for the next 30 days working toward something you’ve always wanted to accomplish.  Take a small dream and make it a reality.

Read one chapter of a good book every day. With the Web’s endless stream of informative, easy-to-skim textual snippets and collaborative written works, people are spending more and more time reading online.  Nevertheless, the Web cannot replace the authoritative wisdom from certain classic books that have delivered (or will deliver) profound ideas around the globe for generations – Books, open doors in your mind and in your life. 

Get uncomfortable and face a fear every day. With a strategy of continuous small steps into uncomfortable territory we are often able to sidestep the biggest barrier to positive change:  Fear.  Sometimes we’re afraid we’ll fail.  Sometimes we’re subconsciously afraid we’ll succeed and then we’d have to deal with all the disruption (growth) and change that follows success.  And other times it’s our fear of rejection or simply our fear of looking like a fool.  The best way to defeat fear is to stare it down.